Re : [tuning] microtonal piano

The following is a letter John Starret recieved about two weeks ago:
>
>
> Sauter Pianofortefabrik's 16 tone microtonal acoustic piano
> My name is John Ryan and I am the U.S. Representative handling the import
> and
> distribution of Sauter Pianos in the United States. Briefly, Carl Sauter
> Pianos is the oldest continuous production piano company in the world,
> located in Germany in the same town since 1819. It is a small but very
> high
> quality, innovative company which builds the most beautiful hand-crafted
> pianos I personally have ever seen or played, and we import their
> traditional
> as well as a line of designer pianos.
>
> Early this week, at the Piano Technicians Guild convention in Washington
> D.C.
> I was introduced for the first time to an acoustic piano which we
> persuaded
> Ulrich Sauter (the sixth generation Sauter to run the company) to bring
> from
> Germany to the show mainly as a "novelty" to get the piano technicians
> into
> the booth to see the other pianos in our line, and to generate
> conversation
> Germany to the show mainly as a "novelty" to get the piano technicians
> into
> the booth to see the other pianos in our line, and to generate
> conversation
> about Sauter. Little did I know what we had on our hands. It turns out
> that
> Ulrich's father was contacted in the 1950s by a microtonal composer named
> Julian Carillo (<A
> HREF="http://www.tol.itesm.mx/~esolisw/julian.html">Julian
> Carrillo and the Thirteenth Sound</A>) to build a 96 key acoustic piano
> built
> around the 16 tone system. Carrillo had been looking for a piano
> manufacturer who would build him one of these pianos and after being
> "politely" turned down by every company (Steinway, Baldwin , etc.) he
> found
> Sauter enthusiastic to build it. About 15 of the "metamorphser" pianos
> were
> built and made their way to Mexico and to various conservatories around
> the
> world. They fell into obscurity until recently when Sauter was contacted
> by
> the Paris Conservatory to build two of these pianos for them. After quite
> a
> bit of research, Sauter was able to find in their archives the original
> plans, sketches, etc., and therefore took on the commission. Since then,
> orders have been coming out of the "woodwork" from different parts of the
> world, mostly Europe, and Sauter has filled another 7 orders.
>
> The reason that I am writing to you is to convey the unanticipated
> enthusiasm
> I encountered from Piano Technicians at this convention towards this
> "micortone" piano which has 96 keys but only covers a one octave range of
> the
> conventional piano, especially those tech's associated with Universities
> and
> Conservatories. We will most likely come away with several serious
> commissions to build more which will be ending up in the United States.
>
> I really don't know where this will lead to; I'm still trying to sort it
> out
> myself, and I found your website while trying to find out more about
> microtonal music which I've had no experience with until seeing this
> piano.
> I don't know if any of this interests you, but I want to make myself
> available for any information that you may wish to know and which I can
> supply you. I will have the piano in the U.S. for a while. It is
> currently
> still in Washington D.C. for the convention and we will be bringing it to
> our
> distribution headquarters in Melbourne, Florida this coming Monday.
> Sauter
> is here from Germany and will be in Florida next week from Monday -
> Wednesday. In the meantime, I'm going to find out more about this
> microtonal
> music because I am fascinated by it, and it seems to me that Sauter and we
> have something really special, not just a novelty after all.
>
> Sincerely,
> John Ryan
> Europianos (a division of Unique Pianos)
> Import and Distribution of Fine Quality Hand Crafted Pianos

John Ryan might be interested to know that a 96-tet Sauter piano from the
heritage of Jean-Etienne Marie is now in the possesion of the Musée de la
Musique in Paris. The instrument has been bought at a public sale for the
museum by Jean-Claude Battault, e-mail: jcbattault@gwmail.cite-musique.fr

--Wim Hoogewerf